Mac wrote:
On Thu, 09 Jun 2005 18:51:36 -0700, kscarter wrote:


I have several places on my boat where the gelcoat has come off from
pulling it up on the beach and I was going to use epoxy to repair. I
have a gelcoat repair kit that has several color tubes and I was
wondering if I could use these color tubes to tint the epoxy. I have
seen epoxy pigment but could not find any in town and need to finish
the repair tomorrow. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Kevin


Kevin,

I'm not an expert on this topic, but since you need an answer in a hurry,
I'll offer my $0.02.

I'm unclear on whether the tube is just inert pigment, or whether it is
uncatalyzed polyester resin with pigment in it.

If it is polyester resin (and I think it probably is), I don't think you
can mix it with epoxy. If it is pigment only, it MIGHT work. You could try
a small test batch to see.

Does the gelcoat repair kit come with catalyst? Maybe it would just be
easier to use the gelcoat repair kit and forget about epoxy.

Or, forget about the pigment. Just use epoxy (with some kind of sandable
filler) and then paint over it. By itself, epoxy is a terrible way to
repair gelcoat, since it doesn't build up fast enough, and it is
moderately difficult to sand, and it is kind of expensive.

Actually, the coloring kits contain universal pigments that can be used
with any resin and I've used them successfully with epoxy. I've also
compared West Systems white tint with white tint sold for polyester
resin and it's the same product. I simple way to tell is to smell them.
The odor of polyester resin is unmistakable, but the tints smell more
like latex paint than anything else. Also, if they were polyester resin,
they would eventually harden in their tubes, as polyester has a limited
shelf life.